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NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD. 

April, 1884. 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

By Lieutenant J. B. Murdock, U. S. N. 
r« 


It devolved on me a year ago to review for the Naval Institute the 
monograph of the late Hon. G. V. Fox on the Landfall of Columbus. 
I became interested in the subject and gave it careful study; but, 
while appreciating the conscientious care shown in the preparation of 
the monograph, I could not agree with the conclusions reached. I 
was led to believe that different conclusions were better supported 
by the evidence, and therefore prepared a paper setting forth what 
seemed to me a more natural deduction. 

Owing to the number of articles of immediate interest furnished to 
the Institute, this paper has not been published until now. 

In no respect did Mr. Fox show more clearly the earnestness 
and conscientiousness of his search than in his examination into all 
possible records that might throw light on the cruise of Columbus 
among the Bahamas in 1492. The principal authority is of course the 
log of Columbus himself; but the old Spanish annals afford information 
on many doubtful points, and the cartographers of the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries have supplied abundant material for reference. 
Mr. Fox searched these diligently, and endeavored to extract truth 
from the mass of error incorporated in the old charts; but the task 
seems wellnigh hopeless. In all probability the Bahamas were but 
little known until long after the time of Columbus. The discovery of 
Cuba and the conquest of Mexico and Peru diverted the tide of travel 
to the southward of the Bahama group. In comparison with the 
rich and fertile West Indies, these islands were of little importance, 
and were but little visited. The data on which to make accurate 
charts were therefore insufficient, even if accurate methods of locating 
isolated islands had then been in vogue. It is only within the present 
century that good charts of the Bahamas have been produced, and a 




450 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

comparison between these and the ancient ones discloses little resem¬ 
blance. An inspection of such of the latter as were accessible induced 
me to believe that better results would be obtained by wholly ignoring 
the old charts (which differ so widely among themselves as to afford 
support to almost any theory that might be suggested), and by com¬ 
paring Columbus’ own statements of the islands he visited with the 
best modern charts procurable. Both these authorities seemed 
reliable, and my investigation has been based on a comparison be¬ 
tween them. 

Mr. Fox’s monograph contains the original Spanish of Columbus’ 
journal as transcribed by Las Casas, and a verbatim translation by 
Mr. Thomas of the United States State Department. Incorporated 
in this paper is a translation by the late Prof. Montaldo of the 
United States Naval Academy, which is a revision of that given by 
Mr. Thomas. The fact that Prof. Montaldo was instructor in Spanish 
at the Naval Academy nearly twenty years, during which time he 
gave special instruction in Spanish nautical phraseology and in the 
English equivalents of technical terms, renders him specially qualified 
to decide on many of the doubtful terms contained in Columbus’ 
journal. I am greatly indebted to him for explanations of many 
obscure points, and have in all cases deferred to his authority. The 
responsibility of the track hereafter suggested as that of Columbus is, 
however, entirely mine. 

It must be premised that the journal contains statements that appear 
to be absolutely irreconcilable with the present topography of the 
Bahamas. It is possible, but improbable, that since 1492 sufficiently 
great changes in the size and position of the islands have taken place 
to explain these statements. Attention is called to these as they occur. 
Five tracks have been suggested as followed by Columbus from San 
Salvador to Cuba, these tracks beginning at five different outlying 
islands. The diversity of these tracks may be seen from the follow¬ 
ing table: 


Names given 

Islands corresponding thereto according to 

by Columbus. 

Navarrete. 

Varnhagen. 

Irving. 

Becher. 

Fox. 

San Salvador 
Santa Maria 
Fernandina 
Isabela 

Islas de Arena 
Cuba 

Grand Turk 
Caicos 

Little Inagua 
Great Inagua 

Cuba 

Mariguana 

Acklin 

Long 

Crooked 

Ragged 

Cuba 

Cat 

ConcepcionCay 

Exuma 

Long 

Mucarras 

Cuba 

Watling’s 

Long 

Exuma 

Crooked 

Ragged 

Cuba 

Samana Cay 

Crooked 

Long 

Fortune 

Ragged 

Cuba 














THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 


451 


The journal of Columbus being taken as final authority, the trans¬ 
lation kindly furnished by Prof. Montaldo is as follows: 

Wednesday , October 10. 

He sailed west-southwest, at the rate of ten miles an hour and occasionally 
twelve, and at other times seven, running between day and night fifty nine 
leagues ; he told the men only forty-four. Here the crew could stand it no 
longer; they complained of the long voyage, but the Admiral encouraged them 
as best he could, giving them hopes of the profits that they might have. And 
he added that it was useless to murmur, because he had come to [in quest of?] 
the Indies, and was so going to continue until he found them, with God’s help. 

Thursday , October 11. 

He sailed to the west-southwest; had a high sea, higher than hitherto. They 
saw pardelas, and, floating by the vessel, a green rush. The men of the Pinta 
saw a reed and a stick, and got a small stick apparently cut or worked with an 
iron instrument, and a piece of cane and some other grass which grows on the 
land, and a small board. Those of the caravel Nina also saw other indications 
of land and a little stick loaded with dog-roses. In view of such signs they 
breathed more freely and grew cheerful. They ran until sunset of that day 
twenty-seven leagues. After sunset he sailed on his first course to the west; they 
went about twelve miles an hour, and two hours after midnight they had run about 
ninety miles, that is, twenty-two and a half leagues. As the caravel Pinta was 
a better sailer and had the lead, she made land and showed the signals ordered 
by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana; 
although the Admiral at ten o’clock at night, standing on the castle of the poop, 
saw a light, but so indistinct that he did not dare to affirm that it was land; yet 
he called the attention of Pero Gutierrez, a keeper of the king’s wardroom, to 
it, and told him that it seemed to be a light, asking him to look, and he did so 
and saw it; he did the same with Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the king 
and queen had sent with the fleet as supervisor and purveyor, but he, not being 
in a good position for seeing it, saw nothing. After the Admiral said this, it 
was seen once or twice, and it was like a small wax candle that was being 
hoisted and raised, which would seem to few to be an indication of land. The 
Admiral however was quite convinced of the proximity of land. In consequence 
of that, when they said the Salve , which all the sailors used to say and sing 
in their way, and all being present, the Admiral requested and admonished them 
to keep a sharp lookout at the forecastle, and to look well for land, and said 
that he would give to him who first saw land a silk doublet, besides the other 
rewards that the king and queen had promised, namely, an annual pension of 
ten thousand maravedis to him who should see it first. Two hours after mid¬ 
night the land appeared, about two leagues off. They lowered all the sails, 
leaving only a storm square sail, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and 
lay to until Friday, when they reached a small island of the Lucayos, called 
Guanahani in the Indian language. They soon saw people naked, and the 
Admiral went on shore in the armed boat, also Martin Alonso Pinzon and Yin- 


452 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


cente Anes, his brother, who was commander of the Nina. The Admiral took 
the Royal standard and the captains the two banners of the Green Cross, which 
the Admiral carried on all the ships as a distinguishing flag, having an F and a 
Y, each letter surmounted by its crown, one at one arm of the cross and the 
other at the other arm. As soon as they had landed they saw trees of a brilliant 
green, abundance of water, and fruits of various kinds. The Admiral called the 
two captains and the rest who had come on shore, and Rodrigo Descovedo, the 
notary of all the fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, and he called them as 
witnesses to certify that he, in presence of them all, was taking, as he in fact 
took, possession of said island for the king and queen, his masters, making the 
declarations that were required, as they will be found more fully in the attesta¬ 
tions then taken down in writing. Soon after, a large crowd of natives congre¬ 
gated there. What follows are the Admiral’s own words in his book on the first 
voyage and discoveries of these Indies. “ In order to win the friendship and 
affection of that people, and because I was convinced that their conversion to 
our Holy Faith would be better promoted through love than through force, I 
presented some of them with red caps and some strings of glass beads, which 
they placed around their necks, and with other trifles of insignificant worth 
that delighted them and by which we have got a wonderful hold on their affec¬ 
tions. They afterwards came to the boats of the vessels, where we were, swim¬ 
ming, bringing us parrots, cotton thread in balls, and spears, and many other 
things, which they bartered for others we gave them, as glass beads and little 
bells. Finally, they received everything and gave whatever they had with good 
will. But I thought them to be a very poor people. All of them go about 
naked as when they came into the world, even the women, although I saw but 
one very young girl, all the rest being young men, none of them being over 
thirty years of age ; their forms being very well proportioned, their bodies 
graceful and their features handsome ; their hair is as coarse as the hair of a 
horse’s tail and cut short; they wear their hair over their eyebrows, except a 
little behind, which they wear long and which they never cut; some of them 
paint themselves black, and they are of the color of the Canary islanders, neither 
black nor white, and some paint themselves white, and some red, and some with 
whatever they find, and some paint their faces, and some the whole body, and 
some their eyes only, and some their noses only. They do not carry arms and 
have no knowledge of them, for, when I showed them the swords, they took 
them by the edge, and through ignorance cut themselves. They have no iron ; 
their spears consist of staffs without iron, some of them having a fish’s tooth at 
the end, and others other things. As a body, they are of good size, good de¬ 
meanor, and well formed. I saw some with scars on their bodies, and to my signs, 
asking them what these meant, they answered in the same manner, that people 
from the neighboring islands wanted to capture them, and they had defended 
themselves; and I did believe, and do believe, that they came there from the 
mainland to take them prisoners. They must be good servants and very intel- 
ligent, because I see that they repeat very quickly what I told them, and it is 
my conviction that they would easily become Christians, for they seem not to 
have any sect. If it please our Lord, I will take six of them from here to your 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 453 


Highnesses on my departure, that they may learn to speak. I have seen here no 
beasts whatever, but parrots only.” All these are the words of the Admiral. 

Saturday , October 13. 

“At dawn many of these men came down to the shore. All are, as already 
said, youths of good size and very handsome ; their hair is not woolly, but loose 
and coarse like horse hair; they have broader heads and foreheads than I have 
ever seen in any other race of men, and the eyes very beautiful and not small. 
None of them are black, but of the complexion of the inhabitants of the Cana¬ 
ries, and it cannot be otherwise expected, for it is east and west with the 
island of Hierro in the Canaries in the same line. All without exception have 
very straight limbs, and not large but very well-formed bellies. They came to 
the ship in canoes, made out of trunks of trees, all in one piece, like a long 
boat, and wonderfully built according to the locality, and large, so that in some 
of them forty or forty-five men came ; others were smaller, and in some but a 
single man came. They paddled with a peel like that of a baker, and made 
wonderful speed ; and if it capsizes all begin to swim and set it right again, 
and bail out the water with calabashes which they carry. They brought balls 
of spun cotton, parrots, spears, and other little things which would be tedious 
to describe, and gave them away for anything that was given to them. I 
examined them closely and tried to ascertain if there was any gold, and 
noticed that some carried a small piece of it hanging from a little hole in their 
nose, and by signs I was able to understand that by going to the south or going 
around the island to the southward, there was a king who had large gold 
vessels and gold in abundance. I endeavored to persuade them to go there, 
and I afterwards saw that they had no wish to go. I determined to wait until 
to-morrow evening and then to sail for the southwest, for many of them told me 
by signs that there was land to the south and to the southwest and to the north¬ 
west, and that those from the northwest came frequently to fight with them, and 
also go to the southwest to get gold and precious stones. This island is 
very large and very level, and has very green trees and many streams of water, 
and a very large lagoon in the middle without any mountain, and all is covered 
with verdure most pleasing to the eye; the people are remarkably gentle, and 
in consequence of their desire to get some of our things, and thinking that 
nothing will be given to them unless they give something, and, having nothing, 
they take what they can and swim off to the ship; but all that they have they 
give for anything that is offered to them ; so that they bought even pieces of 
crockery and pieces of broken glass, and I saw sixteen balls of cotton given for 
three ceotis of Portugal, which is equivalent to a blanca of Castile, and in them 
there must have been more than one arroba of spun cotton. I forbade this 
and allowed no one to take any unless I ordered it to be taken for your High¬ 
nesses, should it be found in abundance. It grows in the island, although on 
account of the shortness of time I could not assert it positively, and likewise 
the gold which they carry hanging in their noses is found here ; but in order to 
lose no time I am now going to try if I can find the island of Cipango. At this 
moment it is dark and all went on shore in their canoes.” 


454 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


Sunday , October 14. 

“At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship and the boats of the caravels to be 
got ready, and went along the island in a north-northeasterly direction to see 
the other side, which was on the other side of the east, and also to see the 
villages, and soon saw two or three and their inhabitants, coming to the shore, 
calling us and praising God; some brought 11s water, some eatables; others, 
when they saw that I did not care to go on shore, plunged into the sea swim¬ 
ming and came, and we understood that they asked us if we had come down 
from heaven; and one old man got into the boat, while others in a loud voice 
called both men and women, saying: Come and see the men from heaven; 
bring them food and drink. A crowd of men and many women tame, each 
bringing something, giving thanks to God, throwing themselves down and 
lifting their hands to heaven and entreating or beseeching us to land there ; 
but I was afraid of a reef of rocks which entirely surrounds that island, 
although there is within it depth enough and ample harbor for all the vessels 
of Christendom ; but the entrance is very narrow. It is true that the interior of 
that belt contains some rocks, but the sea is there as still as the w r ater in a well. 
And in order to see all this I moved this morning that I might give an account 
of everything to your Highnesses, and also to see where a fort could be built, 
and found a piece of land like an island, although it is not one, with six 
houses on it, which in two days could easily be cut off and converted into an 
island; such a work, however, is not necessary in my opinion, because the 
people are totally unacquainted with arms, as your Highnesses will see by 
observing the seven whom I have caused to be taken in order to carry them to 
Castile to be taught our language, and to return them unless your Highnesses, 
when they shall send orders, may take them all to Castile, or keep them in the 
same island as captives; for with fifty men all can be kept in subjection and 
made to do whatever you desire ; and near by the said little island there aie 
orchards of trees the most beautiful that I have seen, with leaves as fresh and 
green as those of Castile in April and May, and much water. I inspected all 
that harbor, and afterwards I returned to the ship and set sail, and saw so many 
islands that I could not decide to which one I should go first, and the men 
I had taken told me by signs that there were so many of them that they were in¬ 
numerable, and named more than one hundred of them. In consequence, I 
looked for the largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing, 
and it is probably distant five leagues from this of San Salvador ; the others, 
some more, some less ; all are very level, without mountains, and of great 
fertility, and all are inhabited, and they make war upon each other, although 
these are very simple-hearted and very finely formed men.” 

Monday, October 15. 

“ I had been standing off and on this night, fearing to approach the shore for 
anchorage before morning, not knowing whether the coast would be clear of 
shoals, and intending to clew up at dawn. And as the island was over five leagues 
distant, rather seven, and the tide detained me, it was about noon when I 
reached the said island; and I found that that side which is towards the island 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 455 


of San Salvador runs north and south, and is five leagues in length, and the 
other, which I followed, ran east and west, and contains over ten leagues. And 
when from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the 
sails, for I had gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have reached 
the western extremity, to which I gave the name of the island of Santa Maria de 
la Concepcion ; and about sunset I anchored near said extremity in order to learn 
whether there was gold there, because the men whom I had caused to be taken 
from San Salvador told that they there wore very large rings of gold on their 
legs and arms. I well suspected that all they said was deceptive in order to 
get away from me. Nevertheless, it was my desire not to pass any island 
without taking possession of it, although, one taken possession of, the same may 
be said of all ; and I anchored and remained until to-day, Tuesday, when at dawn 
I went on shore with the boats armed, and landed, and they who were many in 
number, also naked, and of the same disposition as those of the other island of 
San Salvador, allowed us to go over the island and gave us whatever we asked 
for. And because the wind was increasing against the coast, southeast, I did 
not like to stay longer, so I returned to the ship, and a large canoe was along¬ 
side the caravel Nina, and one of the men of the island of San Salvador, who was 
in her, jumped overboard and escaped in it, and in the middle of the preceding 
night the other * and he went after the canoe, which flew so swiftly that there 
was never a boat that could overtake it, as it was much in advance of us. 
Nevertheless it reached the land, and they left the canoe, and some of my men 
went on shore after them, and they all ran like hens, and the canoe they had 
left we took on board the caravel Nina, to which from another quarter another 
small canoe was coming with a man who came to barter a ball of cotton, and as 
he refused to go on board the caravel, some sailors plunged into the sea and 
took him ; and I, who from the poop of my ship saw all, sent for him, and I 
gave him a red cap, put around his arm a string of small green glass beads, and 
two little bells on his ears, and ordered that his canoe, which they had also on 
board of the vessel, should be returned to him, and thus I sent him on shore ; 
and soon after I set sail for the other large island that I was descrying in the 
west, and I ordered that the other canoe that the Nina had astern should be 
turned adrift. When the man to whom I made the indicated presents and from 
whom I had refused the ball of cotton he offered to me, reached the land, he 
was as I saw immediately surrounded by those on shore, and he felt a great 
wonder and thought that we were good people, and that the other man who had 
fled had probably been kept by us in consequence of some injury done us, and 
that was the reason why I gave him presents and ordered his release, my aim 
being to win thus the esteem of all, and avoid their enmity to the future expedi¬ 
tions your Highnesses may send ; and yet all I gave him was not worth four 
maravedis. And so I left, at about ten o’clock, with a southeast wind, inclining 
to the south for the other island, a very large one, where the San Salvador men 
I have with me assert by signs there exists much gold, and that they wear it in 
rings around their arms and legs, and in their ears, noses, and around their 
necks. And from this island of Santa Maria to the other one there are nine 


* Sentence illegible and unfinished in the original. 


) 

456 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

leagues east and west, and all this portion of the island runs northwest and 
southeast, and it appears that there maybe on this side of the coast more than 
twenty-eight leagues ; it is even and devoid of mountains, like those of San 
Salvador and Santa Maria, and all its shores are free from reefs except some 
sunken rocks near the land which require great watchfulness when one wants 
to anchor, or makes it prudent to anchor some distance from land, although the 
water is always remarkably limpid and the bottom can be seen. At the dis¬ 
tance of two lombard shots there is in all these islands a bottom so deep that it 
cannot be reached. These islands are very green and fertile, and have a balmy 
atmosphere ; they probably contain many things which I do not know of, for I 
do not wish to stop but to reconnoitre many islands in search of gold. And 
since these thus give these signs that they wear it on their arms and legs, and 
it is real gold, for I showed them some pieces of that which I have, I cannot fail, 
God helping, finding the place whence it is procured. And being in the gulf, 
midway between these two islands, namely, that of Santa Maria and this large 
one, to which I give the name of la Fernandina , I found a man who was going 
from the island of Santa Maria to la Fernandina ; he had a small piece of his 
bread, about the size of one’s fist, a calabash of water, a lump of red earth re¬ 
duced to powder and afterwards kneaded, and some dry leaves, highly prized 
no doubt among them, for those of San Salvador offered some to me as a 
present; and he carried a little basket in their fashion, in which he had a small 
string of glass beads and two blancas, by which I knew that he came from the 
island of San Salvador, had passed to Santa Maria, and was now going to la 
Fernandina, and he came to the ship ; I had him taken on board as he desired, 
and ordered that his canoe and all that he had should be kept in the ship ; and 
had him treated with bread, honey, and drink : and I will take him to la 
Fernandina, giving him back what he has brought, in order that he may give 
good news concerning us, so that, God willing, when your Highnesses shall send 
here, those who shall come may receive honor, and that they may give us of 
all that they have.” 

Tuesday , October 16. 

“About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion for the island 
of Fernandina, which appears to be very large to the west, and I sailed all that 
day with calm weather; I could not arrive in time to see the bottom in order to 
get a clear anchorage, a thing requiring the greatest care in order not to lose 
the anchors ; in consequence I waited until daylight, when I anchored near a 
village. The man whom I found yesterday in his canoe in the gulf had come to 
that village, and so favorable was the account he had given of us that to-night 
they have been constantly coming to the ship in their canoes, bringing us water 
and everything they have. I caused some things to be given to every one, such 
as small beads, ten or twelve of them of glass on a string, some brass [tin ?] 
rattles like those that in Castile can be had for one maravedi apiece, and some 
leather straps, all of which they considered of the greatest excellence, and I 
also treated those who came to my ship with honey of sugar [molasses ?] ; and 
afterwards, at nine o’clock A. M., I sent the ship’s boat to the shore for water, 
and they willingly showed my men where the water was and they themselves 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


brought the casks filled to the boat, and were very glad to be able to oblige us. 
This island is exceedingly large and I have determined to go around it, because, 
as I can understand, on it or near it there is a mine of gold. This island lies 
at a distance from that of Santa Maria of eight leagues almost east and west; 
and this cape to which I have come, and all this coast, runs north-northwest and 
south-southwest, and I saw fully twenty leagues of it, but this was not the end. 
Now while writing this I set sail with a south wind, intending to go around the 
whole island, and work until I should find Samaot, which is the island or city 
where the gold is, as all those say who have come with us in the ships, and as 
was before asserted by those of the island of San Salvador and Santa Maria. 
The people here are like those of the said islands, and speak the same lan¬ 
guage and have the same customs ; but these look to me as somewhat more 
gentle, of better manners, and of keener intelligence, for I notice that in bar¬ 
tering cotton and other little things they know how to trade, which the others 
never did ; and also on this island I saw cotton cloth made like mantles, and 
the people more intelligent; and the women wear in front a small piece of cotton 
stuff which scarcely covers what decency requires. The island is very green, 
level, and exceedingly fertile, and I doubt not that they sow and gather 
panizo, and all other things, at all seasons of the year ; and I saw many trees 
whose shape was very different from ours, and many of them which had 
branches of many kinds, although growing from one trunk ; and one branch is of 
one kind and another of another kind, and so different, that the diversity of the 
kinds is the greatest wonder of the world ; for instance, one branch had leaves 
like those of cane and another like those of a mastic; and thus on a single tree 
there were five or six of these kinds, and all so different; nor can it be said 
that they have been grafted, because those trees grow wild in the field, and 
nobody cares for them. I know no sect among them, and as they are of 
very good understanding, they would in my opinion soon become Christians. 
The fishes here are so different from ours that it is a wonder. Some look like 
cocks of the finest colors in the world, blue, yellow, red, and all colors, and 
others variegated in a thousand fashions ; their different hues being so ex¬ 
quisite that nobody can contemplate them without wondering, and feeling great 
delight in seeing them. There are also whales here ; but on shore I saw no 
beasts whatever, save parrots and lizards ; a young man told me that he had 
seen a large snake. No sheep nor goats nor any other beast did I see ; 
although I have only stopped half a day, I could not fail in seeing some, should 
there be any. When I shall have sailed around this island I will describe its 
coast.” 

Wednesday, October 17. 

“At midday I left the village where I had anchored and taken in water, in 
order to sail around this island of Fernandina. The wind was southwest and 
south; and as my wish was to follow the coast of the island where I was to the 
southeast, because it all runs to the north-northwest and south-southeast, and I 
desired to take the said route of south and southeast, because that part all these 
Indians whom I have on board and another from whom I received signs in this 
part of the south, say that on the island which they call Samoet [is] where the 


458 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


gold is; and Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the caravel Pinta, into which I 
sent three of these Indians, came to me and said that one of them had very 
positively given him to understand that I should round the island much the 
quickest by the north-northwest. I saw that the wind was not favorable to my 
intended course, and was to the other; so I sailed to the' north-northwest, and 
when I was near the end of the island, two leagues off, I found a very marvel¬ 
lous port with an entrance, although it maybe said that there are two entrances ; 
because it has a rocky islet in the middle, and both are very narrow ; but within 
it there is ample room for one hundred ships, if it had sufficient depth of water, 
and was clear, and had also a deep entrance. I thought it worth while to 
examine and sound it, and so I anchored outside of it, and went in with all the 
boats of the ships, and saw that there was not enough depth of water. And 
because I thought when I saw it that it was the mouth of some river, I had the 
casks sent on shore for water, and on shore I found eight or ten men who soon 
approached us, and showed us the village near by, to which I sent my men for 
water, some armed, and others with the casks, and thus they got it; and because 
it was rather far, I was detained for the space of two hours. During this time 
I walked among those trees, which were the most beautiful things that were 
ever seen; so much verdure being visible and in as high a degree as in the 
month of May in Andalucia, and all these trees as different from ours as day is 
from night; the same was the case with the fruits, grass, stones, and all things. 
It is true that some trees were of the same family as others in Castile ; however 
there was a very great difference, and the other trees of other kinds were so 
many that there is no person that can compare them to others in Castile. The 
people were all like those aforementioned ; they have the same dispositions, go 
about naked, and are of the same size, and gave of what they had for anything 
that was given to them ; and here I saw that some young men of the vessels 
obtained spears from them for some little pieces of broken crockery and glass ; 
the men I sent for water told us that the houses which they had entered were 
well swept and perfectly clean, and that their beds and coverings looked like 
cotton nets ; the houses are like military tents, very high and have good chim¬ 
neys ; but among the many villages which I saw none had over twelve or fifteen 
houses. Here they found that the married women wore cotton breeches, the 
young girls not, except a few who were already of the age of eighteen years* 
And they had there dogs, mastines and branchetes, and here they found one 
wearing in his nose a piece of gold the size of half a castillano, on which they 
saw letters ; I scolded them for not having got it by giving whatever he asked, 
in order to see what it was, and if coin whose coin it was ; but they answered 
that he did not dare to barter it. After getting in water, I returned to the ship 
and set sail, and sailed to the northwest until I discovered all that part of the 
island as far as the coast which runs east and west, and afterwards, these Indians 
again said that this island was smaller than the island of Samoet , and that it 
would be well to go back, as we would thus reach it sooner. The wind then 
ceased and then sprang up from west-northwest, which was contrary to our 
course, and so I turned around and sailed all the past night to the east-south¬ 
east, and sometimes wholly east, and sometimes to the southeast; this I did in 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


order to keep off the land, for the atmosphere was very misty and the weather 
threatening ; it [the wind] was light and did not permit me to reach the land in 
order to anchor. So that this night it rained very hard after midnight until 
almost day, and is still cloudy, threatening to rain ; and we [are] at the southeast 
cape of the island, where I hope to anchor until it gets clear in order to see the 
other islands where I have to go ; ever since I came to these Indies it has been 
raining much or little. I beg your Highnesses to believe, however, that this land 
is the richest, the mildest in temperature, and the most level and wholesome 
in the world.” 

Thursday , October 18. 

“ After it cleared up, I followed the wind, and went around the island as much 
as I could, and I anchored when it was no longer possible to sail ; but I did 
not go on shore, and at dawn I set sail.” 

Friday , October 19. 

“At dawn I weighed anchor and sent the caravel Pintatothe east and south¬ 
east, and the caravel Nina to the south-southeast, and I with the ship went to 
the southeast, having given orders that they should keep that course until 
midday, and then that both should change their course and return to me ; and 
then before we had gone three hours we saw an island to the east, to which we 
directed our course, and all the three vessels reached it before midday at its 
northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet and a ridge of rocks outside it 
to the north, and another between it and the large island ; which the men of 
San Salvador , that I brought with me, called Saometo , to which I gave the name 
of la Isabela. The wind was north, and the said islet lay from the island of 
Fer?iandina , whence I had come east and west, and the coast afterwards ran 
from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues as far 
as a cape, which I called Cape Beautiful , which is in the west; and so it is 
beautiful, round, and [the water ?] very deep and free from shoals outside of it; 
at first it is rocky and low, but farther in it is a sandy beach as it is along most 
of the coast, and it is here that I have to-night, Friday, anchored until morning. 
This coast all, and the part of the island that I saw, is nearly all a beach, and 
the island the most beautiful thing I have seen ; if the others are very beautiful, 
this is still more so ; it has many trees, very green and very large ; and this 
land is higher than that of the other islands I have discovered, although it can¬ 
not be called mountainous ; yet gentle hills enhance with their contrasts the 
beauty of the plain, and there appears to be much water in the middle of the 
island : northeast of this cape there is an extensive promontory ; and there are 
many groves, very thick and very large. I wished to anchor off it in order to 
land and visit so handsome a spot; but it was shallow and I could not anchor 
except far from land, and the wind was very favorable to come to this cape, 
where I have now anchored, and which I have called Cape Beautiful , because 
it is so, and, consequently, I did not anchor off that promontory, and besides, 
because I saw from there this cape so green and so beautiful, as are all the 
other things and lands of these islands, so that I do not know to which to go 
first, nor do my eyes grow tired with looking at such beautiful verdure, so 
different from our own ; and I even believe that among it there are many grasses 


460 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


or herbs, and many trees which would be of great value in Spain for dyes and 
medicines, but I do not know them, which I greatly regret. And when I 
reached this cape the odor came so good and sweet from flowers or trees on the 
land that it was the sweetest thing in the world. To-morrow, before leaving 
here, I will go on shore to see what there is on this cape ; there is no population 
except farther inland, where, according to the information received from these 
men whom I have on board, their king lives and wears much gold. I intend to 
proceed to-morrow until I find the population, and see or converse with this 
king, who, according to the signs made by these men, rules all these neighboring 
islands, and goes clothed, and wears much gold on his person ; although I place 
little confidence in their assertions, both because I do not understand well and 
because I see that they are so poor in gold that any small quantity worn by this 
king would seem to them to be a great deal. I believe that this Cape Beautiful 
is a separate island from Saometo, and even that there is another small one 
between; I do not care to examine so much in detail, because I could not do it 
in fifty years, because I desire to see and discover the most that I can, in order 
to return to your Highnesses, God willing, in April. It is true that wherever 
I may find gold or spices in large quantities I will stop long enough to get as 
much of each as possible ; I am constantly sailing in order to find some.” 

Saturday , October 20. 

“At sunrise I weighed anchor from the place where I was with the vessel 
anchored at this island of Saometo at the southwest cape (which I named the 
Cape of the Lagoon , and I called the island la Isabela ), in order to sail to the 
northeast and to the east from the southeast and south, where I understood 
from these men whom I have with me that the population and their king were ; 
and so I found the bottom so shallow that I could not enter or sail to it, and I 
saw that by following a southwestern route it would be a long way around, and 
consequently I determined to return by the course I had come from the north- 
northeast from the west, and to go around this island in order ,* The 

wind, however, was so scant that I was never able to have the land along the 
coast except at night; and because it is dangerous to anchor among these 
islands, save in the daytime (when one sees with the eye where the anchor is 
cast, because it is all spots, one clean, the other not), I stood off and on all this 
night of Sunday. The caravels anchored because they reached the land early, 
and thought that I would do the same at sight of their customary signals ; but 
I did not wish to.” 

Sunday , October 21. 

“At ten o’clock I arrived here at this end of the rocky islet, and I anchored, 
as did the caravels ; and after taking my dinner I went on shore. I found there 
only a house, in which I found no person, and 1 believe that they had fled through 
fear, because all their household goods were there. I did not allow them to 
touch anything, except that I went with the captains and men to see the island. 
If the others appeared beautiful, green, and fertile, this one with its majestic and 


* A blank in the original. 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 461 


luxuriant forests surpasses them all. Here are some large lagoons, and over¬ 
hanging and around them are the trees, so that it is a marvel, and here and 
throughout the island they are all green, and the grass is like it is in April in 
Andalucia ; and the songs of the little birds so that it seems as if a man could 
never leave here, and the flocks of parrots which darken the sun ; and birds and 
little birds of so many kinds and so different from ours that it is a marvel; and 
then there are trees of a thousand kinds, all bearing fruit of their own kinds, 
and all smell so that it is a marvel, so that I feel the greatest regret in the world 
not to know them, because I am very certain that they are all things of value, 
and I bring the samples of them and also of the grasses. While going around 
one of these lagoons I saw a serpent, which we killed, and I bring the skin to 
your Highnesses. When it saw us it plunged into the lagoon, and we followed it 
in, because it was not very deep, until we killed it with our lances; is of seven 
palmos in length ; I believe that there are many like this in this lagoon. Here 
I found the aloe tree, and as I have been told that it is very valuable I shall to¬ 
morrow have ten quintals of it brought to the ship. While looking for good 
water, we went to a village, distant half a league from my anchoring place ; and 
the people fled at our approach, abandoning their houses, and hiding their wear¬ 
ing apparel and what they had in the woods ; and I did not allow them to take 
anything, not even the value of a pin. Afterwards some of the men came to us, 
and one came quite up to us : I gave him some little bells and some glass beads, 
which satisfied and gladdened him very much, and in order that our friendship 
might increase, and that he might ask something of them, I caused him to ask 
for some water, which they, after I had gone on board the ship, brought to the 
beach with their calabashes filled, and were very much pleased to give it to us. 
I had them presented with another small string of glass beads, and they said 
they w'ould come the next day. I wanted to have all the casks in the ship sup¬ 
plied with water; consequently, the weather permitting, I shall sail at once in 
order to go until I get an interview with this king, to see if I can get from him 
the gold which I hear that he w'ears, and afterwards to sail for another very 
large island, which I think must be Cipango , according to the signs given me by 
those Indians whom I have on board, and which they called Colba , and where 
they say there are large ships and many merchants, and from it to another island 
named Bosio, which they also say is very large, taking a passing notice of others 
between, and shaping my future conduct in accordance with the quantities of 
gold or spices that I may find. I have also decided to go to the mainland to 
the city of Guisay , present there the letters of your Highnesses to the Grand 
Khan , ask for an answer and come away with it.” 

Monday, October 22. 

“All last night and to-day I have remained here, expecting the king or other 
persons to come with gold or some other valuable things. Many of these people 
came naked, like those of the other islands, painted some white, some red, some 
black, and so on in many ways. They brought spears and some balls of cotton 
to barter, which they exchanged here with some sailors for pieces of glass, broken 
cups, and pieces of earthenware. Some of these few wore pieces of gold in their 
noses, which they gladly gave away for a small bell such as is attached to the 


462 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


leg of a hawk ; but it is so little that it is nothing ; it is true that for any little 
thing that was given them they marvelled greatly at our coming, and thought 
that we had come down from heaven. We took water for the vessels from a 
lagoon which is near to the Cape of the rocky island, so- named by me ; and in 
the said lagoon Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, killed another ser¬ 
pent like that of yesterday, of seven palmos. I caused to be taken on board all 
the aloes that could be found.” 

Tuesday, October 23. 

“ I should like to sail to-day for the island of Cuba, which, from the descrip¬ 
tion about its size and riches given by these people, I infer to be Cipango. I will 
not stop here longer nor * around this island to go to the inhabited portion, 
as I had determined, in order to have an interview with this king or lord. This 
is in order not to stop much, because I see that there is no mine of gold here ; 
and to go around these islands requires many different winds, and they do not 
blow as men would wish. And therefore the most important thing is to go 
where there is a great trade. I say that it is not right to stop, but to continue 
on one’s course to examine many lands until one reaches some very profitable 
land, although my idea is that this is very rich in spices ; but I grieve exceed¬ 
ingly that I have no knowledge of them, because I see a thousand kinds of trees 
having each one its own kind of fruit, and green now as in Spain in the month 
of May and June, and a thousand kinds of herbs, with flowers, of all of which 
none was known save this aloe of which I have had quantities brought on board 
the ship for your Highnesses. And I have not sailed nor do I sail for Cuba, 
because there is no wind, but a dead calm and much rain ; yesterday it also 
rained much, yet it was not cold ; on the contrary it is warm during the day, and 
the nights are as mild as those of Andalucia in Spain in May.” 

Wednesday, October 24. 

“ At midnight I weighed anchor from the island of Isabela, the cape of the rocky 
islet, which is on the northern side where I was lying, in order to go to the 
island of Cuba, which I heard from these people was very large, having much 
trade, and that there was in it gold and spices, and large ships and merchants ; 
and they told me that I should go to it by the west-southwest, and so I think, 
because I believe that if it is such as all the Indians of these islands and those 
whom I have on board told me by signs, because I do not understand their lan¬ 
guage, it is the island of Cipango, of which marvellous things are related, and 
on the globes which I have seen and on the maps of the world it is in this re¬ 
gion, and thus I sailed until day to the west-southwest, and at dawn the wind 
calmed and it rained, and so almost all night; and I remained with little wind 
until after midday and then the wind began to blow very lovely, and I carried all 
the sails of the ship, the mainsail, two bonnets, the foresail, and spritsail, and the 
mizzen, and the main-topsail, and the boat astern ; thus I followed my course 
until nightfall, and then Cape Verde of the island of Fernandina, which is at the 
south towards the west, remained to the northwest of me, and there was from 


* Blank space in the original. 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 463 


me to it seven leagues. The wind was blowing hard, and I knew not how far 
off the island of Cuba was, and in order not to approach it at night, because 
all these islands are so deep that no bottom can be found all around them, save 
at two lombard shots, and this is all spotted—one piece of rock, another of sand 
—and, consequently, it is impossible to anchor safely except where you can 
see ; and therefore I determined to lower all the sails, except the foresail, and to 
sail with that, and suddenly the wind grew very strong and I made much head¬ 
way, of which I was doubtful, and it was very misty and rained. I had the 
foresail taken in and we did not go this night two leagues,” etc. 

Thursday , October 25. 

He afterwards sailed from sunrise west-southwest until nine o’clock, mak¬ 
ing about five leagues ; afterwards he changed course to the west; they went 
eight miles an hour until one o’clock P. M., and thence until three o’clock, and 
they made about forty-four miles. At that time they saw land, and there were 
seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south—distance from them 
five leagues, etc. 

Friday , October 26. 

He was on the southern side of said islands ; all was shallow for five or six 
leagues; he anchored there. The Indians he had with him told him that to 
reach Cuba with their canoes from those islands would take them a day and a 
half; these canoes are small vessels of one piece of wood and have no sail. 
These are the canoes. He sailed thence for Cuba , because from the signs 
which the Indians gave him of the size and of its gold and pearls he thought 
that was the one, that is to say, Cipango . 

Saturday , October 27. 

At sunrise he weighed anchor from those islands which he called Las Islas de 
Arena [Sand Islands] on account of the little bottom they had for six leagues 
to the south. He ran south-southwest at the rate of eight miles an hour until 
one o’clock in the afternoon, making about forty miles, and up to nightfall they 
had made about twenty-eight miles on the same course, and before night they 
saw the land. They lay to during the night with much rain which it rained. 
They ran on Saturday until sunset seventeen leagues, south-southwest. 

Sunday , October 28. 

He went thence in search of the island of Cuba to the south-southwest, to 
the land nearest to it [him?], and entered a very beautiful river very free from 
danger of shoals and other inconveniences ; and all the coast that he passed 
there was very deep and very clear as far as the land ; the mouth of the river 
had twelve fathoms, and is very wide in order to tack in ; he anchored within, 
he said, at the distance of a lombard shot. The Admiral says that he never 
saw such a beautiful thing, the banks of the river being covered with trees, 
which were beautiful and green and different from ours, with flowers and with 
their fruit, each one after its kind. Many birds, and little birds which sang 
very sweetly; there was a great quantity of palms different from those of 


464 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


Guinea and from ours; of medium height and the feet without that shirt, and 
the leaves very large, with which they cover their houses; the land is very 
level. The Admiral jumped into the ship’s boat and went on shore, and came 
to two houses which he thought to be those of fishermen,.and which ran away 
in fear; they found in one of them a dog which never barked, and in both 
houses he found nets of palm thread and cords, and horn fish-hooks, bone 
harpoons, and other fishing-gear, and numerous sets within ; and he believed 
that each house was occupied by many persons ; he ordered that nothing in 
them should be touched, and nothing was. The grass was high as in Anda- 
lucia in April and May. He found much purslain and wild amaranth. He 
returned to the boat and went up the river for a good while, and he said that 
it was a great pleasure to see that verdure and those groves, and of the birds 
that he could not leave them in order to return. He says that that island is the 
most beautiful that eyes ever beheld, full of good ports and deep rivers, and it 
seemed to him that the sea must never be high there, for the grass of the beach 
almost reached the water, which rarely happens where the sea is rough; until 
then he had not experienced a rough sea in all those islands. The island, he 
says, is full of very beautiful mountains, though they are not very long, but 
lofty, and all the land is high like that of Sicily ; full of many streams of water, 
as he could understand from the Indians with him, whom he took from the 
island of GuanaJiani , who tell him that there are ten large rivers, and that with 
their canoes they cannot go around in twenty days. While going to the land 
with the vessels, two canoes approached, and when they saw that the sailors 
entered the boat and rowed in order to go to see the bottom of the river and to 
know where they were to anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians said that in 
that island there were mines of gold and pearls, and the Admiral saw place 
suitable for them and shell-fish, which is a sign of them, and the Admiral 
understood that ships of the Grand Khan came there, and large ones, and that 
from there to the mainland was a run of ten days. The Admiral called that 
river and port San Salvador. 

It may be of service in examining the different tracks proposed for 
Columbus, to have a synopsis of the information contained in the 
journal concerning the different islands, with their bearings and dis¬ 
tances from each other. 

San Salvador. 

Large and level with large lagoon in middle. No mountains (Oct. 13). 

Surrounded by reef of rocks, within which is a large harbor having a narrow 
entrance (Oct. 14). 

Santa Maria de la Concepcion. 

About SW. from San Salvador (Oct. 13). Distance from San Salvador 
about 5 leagues (Oct. 14), 7 leagues (Oct. 15). Side towards San Salvador ex¬ 
tends north and south 5 leagues; the other, east and west 10 leagues (Oct. 15). 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 465 


Fernandina. 

In sight from Santa Maria (Oct. 15, 16). 9 leagues west of Santa Maria 

(Oct. 15). 8 leagues (Oct. 16). 

Extends NW. and SE. more than 28 leagues (Oct. 15). 

Extends NNW. and SSE. more than 20 leagues (Oct. 16). Level. A 
promising harbor which proved to be shallow, having a narrow entrance with 
rocky islet in middle on the east side (Oct. 17). 

Isabela. 

Not in sight from Fernandina (Oct. 19). 

Rocky islet at northern extremity with ridge of rocks outside, and another 
between it and large island. This islet was E. from Fernandina (Oct. 19). 

Coast ran to westward from rocky islet 12 leagues to Cape Beautiful (Oct. 19). 

Deep water, sandy beach (Oct. 19). 

Higher than other islands visited, though not mountainous. Gentle hills, 
apparently much water in interior. Cape Beautiful on different island from 
Isabela (Oct. 19). 

Found shallow water in attempting to go NE. and E. from the south cape 
(Oct. 20). 

Large lagoon near the rocky islet (Oct. 21). 

Las Islas de Arena. 

Chain of seven or eight islands lying north and south (Oct. 25). 

Shallow for 5 or 6 leagues to southward of the islands (Oct. 26). 

Reached by sailing on courses between W. and WSW. from Isabela (Oct. 
24, 25). 

Cuba. 

Ran SSW. 68 miles'* from anchorage to southward of Las Islas de Arena, 
and then had Cuba in sight (Oct. 27). 

With these data for reference the routes proposed for Columbus 
through the Bahamas may be readily tested. No better criticism of 

* Mr. Fox discusses the value of the league and the mile so often referred to 
in the journal, and reaches the following conclusions : 

In several places the league is stated as four miles, as in the entry for Oct. 11. 
Columbus says he had made “about ninety miles, that is twenty-two and a half 
leagues.” Again, in the run from Las Islas de Arena to Cuba, on October 27, the 
run is entered both in leagues and miles, 68 of the latter being equivalent to 17 
leagues. The length of the mile is however somewhat doubtful. On the authority 
of Rear-Admiral John Rodgers and Prof. De Morgan, Mr. Fox adopts the length 
of 1614 yards, that of the old Roman or Italian mile, as the mile of Columbus. 
The league is therefore 19,368 feet or 3.18 English nautical miles. As all dis¬ 
tances in the log are from dead reckoning, there is probably no great error 
committed in calling Columbus’ league three nautical miles, and his mile ^ of 
the present nautical mile. 


466 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


these can be made than that given in Mr. Fox’s Memoir. The fol¬ 
lowing is in the main an abstract of his discussion. The accompany¬ 
ing Chart (Plate I.) is a copy of the excellent one accompanying his 
paper. 

The first track considered is that of Navarrete from Grand Turk, 
which agrees in only one or two points with the journal. The distance 
between the second and third islands, which is given as about twenty- 
five miles, is here sixty, and nothing is in sight from the second. The 
third island, described as twenty-eight leagues in length, is here only 
seven. Navarrete omits entirely the fourth and fifth islands, and 
makes Columbus proceed directly from the third to Cuba. It is hardly 
possible to imagine that this track is derived from the log at all. 

Varnhagen fixes on Mariguana as San Salvador. His second island 
bears WNW. from, the first, although Columbus said he should 
sail SW. from San Salvador, and afterwards stated the distance 
between the islands as seven leagues ; whereas on Varnhagen’s track 
it is over forty miles. From the second island, Varnhagen’s track co¬ 
incides in the main with others to be discussed, and need not be con¬ 
sidered separately. 

Washington Irving makes Cat Island to be Guanahani, and his 
theory, given as it is in full in his life of Columbus, has become widely 
known and has obtained considerable support. Although as far as 
Cat Island itself is considered there is no discrepancy with the bits of 
description given of San Salvador, there are difficulties met with that 
seem insuperable in following Columbus therefrom. Irving’s second 
island (Conception Cay) is SSE. from Cat Island, although, as 
already stated, Columbus said he should sail SW. The third island 
in this track is Exuma, and the fourth, Long. In order to reach Exuma, 
the ships would have had to pass close to Long Island, and could not 
have avoided seeing it. The log states that on leaving the second island 
the ships went to the land in sight, but Irving makes them pass it and 
push on towards Exuma, which is not visible even from Long Island. 
On the 19th the ships steered on different courses to pick up the land, 
showing conclusively that Columbus knew of its position only by hear¬ 
say ; yet, according to the track assigned him by Irving, he had passed 
only four days before within a mile or two of the very island he was 
then seeking. From Long Island, Irving supposes the ships to have 
proceeded SW. to Mucarras Cay and Cuba. A glance at the chart 
shows this to be the fatal objection to this route, as it passes the 
Jumentos Cays, and thence over the Great Bahama Bank, a region 



AO OQ 


CAT 


ISLAND 


<0- CoVumbusP^ 


Wallings l 4 


rf.i Point 

> " «) 


:po« 


»1»* 14 


The Magnetic Variation. i'U Point westerly 14-92) wa, 
obtained, from, researches ^nruie by C.A Schott Assist¬ 
ant U-S Coast- and. Geodetic Survey in, Aprils 1881- 


A C*y* 


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Departure 


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ISLAND 


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INAGUA I 


PLATE I 


Hpl^ain 


CHART OF PART 


' Clarion 

(very devL&eful) 


Cl yo Arena 


OF THE 


BAHAMA ISLANDS 




SHOWING THE TRACKS ASCRIBED TO 


faravt 


COLUMBUS 




NEW 


WORLD 


REFERENCE 

Track of Columbus according to Washington Irving, 1828 
•• •* *i " M Capt. AP-Bechcr, t856 

« »• « nr F A deVarnha^en, 1864 

« « * * * o V Fox , 1881. 

*»*•*» * * J.B Murdoch. 1884. 


C.Nicolasi 


fTocr*-? 


NOTE 

SOUNDINGS IN FATHOMS. 

(From the US Coast and Geodetic Survey Report 1880) 


FRtEDCtiWALO PHOTO■ LITHO.PA'.TC 







































































































































































































































































THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 467 


which is to-day almost wholly unnavigable. No mention is made in 
the log of any shoal water on this passage, although as soon as it is 
encountered south of Las Islas de Arena it is recorded. The dis¬ 
tance is also widely different, being 120 miles, whereas the log ac¬ 
counts for not more than 80. The Mucarras Cays do not correspond 
with Las Islas de Arena in number and position, and are only 26 miles 
from the Cuban coast, whereas the log says that the ships sailed 54 
miles and then had Cuba in sight only. 

Captain Becher, R. N., published a book entitled “ The Landfall of 
Columbus,” in which he adopted Watling’s Island as Guanahani; 
his decision has probably been more widely received than any other. 
But Mr. Fox shows conclusively that the assumed track from San 
Salvador to Cuba is widely at variance with the log, and is only an 
ingenious attempt to reconcile facts with a preconceived theory. The 
first point of difference is in the log of the 15th. The Spanish reads: 
“ y como desta isla vide otra mayor al Oueste, cargu6 las velas por 
andar todo aquel dia fasta la noche, porque aun no pudiera haber 
andado al cabo del Oueste. . . . y cuasi al poner del sol sorgi acerca 
del dicho cabo.” Captain Becher translates: “ And as from this 
island I saw another larger one to the westward I made sail , con¬ 
tinuing on until night, for as yet I had not arrived at the western 
cape.” Professor Montaldo’s translation is, “And when from this 
island I saw another larger one to the west I clewed up the sails, for 
I had gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have reached 
the western extremity.” The vital difference is in the translation of 
“ cargu6 las velas.” The verb “cargar” means ordinarily to press 
or to crowd, and its translation by Becher “I made sail” is there¬ 
fore natural; but “ cargar las velas ” is a technical term, meaning 
to clew or brail up the sails, a signification the reverse of what it or¬ 
dinarily has. Mr. Fox, who had a translation by Professor Montaldo, 
adopts his interpretation of this passage, although giving some one 
else as the authority. The question once raised, any dictionary 
of nautical terms shows that the true rendering of “ cargu6 las 
velas ” is “ I clewed up the sails.” Becher’s erroneous translation 
leads him into the hypothesis that Columbus did not stop at the 
second island that he reached, but pushed on towards the one in 
the west. Even if this hypothesis were correct, it affords no justi¬ 
fication for the tampering with the name given by Columbus to 
the second island, Santa Maria de la Concepcion. Becher sup¬ 
poses that he passed Rum Cay without stopping and pushed on to 


468 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

Long Island, where he anchored about sunset; but he divides the 
above name, giving to Rum Cay the first half of it, Santa Maria, 
and to Long Island the remainder, Concepcion. This division would 
seem to be almost too absurd for credence, yet it has actually been 
adopted by the British Admiralty. It is charitable to suppose that 
they are aware that they are accepting names due only to the fertile 
imagination of Captain Becher, and not those given by Columbus. 
The evidence is conclusive in the log that Columbus did not push on 
to the land he saw to the westward; for in two places in the log of 
the 15th, and in one of that of the 16th, reference is made to the land 
visible to the westward. It was in sight, but not until noon of the 
16th did the ships leave the second island to sail to it. It cannot be 
urged in defence of Captain Becher that the ships anchored at sunset 
of the 15th at the north end of Long Island and sailed thence on the 
16th for his next island, Exuma; for, Exuma is not in sight from Long 
Island. Becher slights the “ marvellous harbor ” described in the 
journal of the 17th, saying that it is “really nothing more than the 
lov shelving shore of the island (Exuma) covered to the depth of a 
few feet by the sea.” The real difficulty is that there are two excel¬ 
lent harbors in Exuma which do not at all agree with the one described 
by Columbus, which appeared to be a good port, but which proved 
to be shallow. 

But Captain Becher’s fancy takes its highest flight in the course he 
attributes to Columbus on the night of the 17th. He fixes on the 
Crooked Island group as the Samoet or Isabela of the journal, and it is 
necessary to get the ships there, although at sunset they were a hun¬ 
dred miles distant, at Great Exuma. He therefore writes of the heavy 
gale on that night from the westward, before which Columbus ran ESE. 
until he cleared the north end of Long Island, when he hauled to the 
southward, skirting the shore and anchoring at daybreak at the south 
end of Long Island, which he supposed to be the south end of Exuma. 
The distance is about one hundred miles, the time allotted, about ten 
hours. There are several objections to this assumed run. First, no sea¬ 
man of Columbus’ ability would run all night at such a speed in an 
absolutely unknown sea; second, there was no gale! The log is 
explicit: “the wind was light, and did not permit me to reach the 
land to anchor.” Mr. Fox says of Becher’s hypothesis, “ He ‘bounds 
him along’ the reef of this coral island and into the unknown dark¬ 
ness as if it was as easy to do so as to write about it. He makes him 
straddle a strange island during a stormy night and witlessly anchors 
him at the end of the wrong one in the morning.” 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 469 


For the fourth island (Isabela), Becher fixes on the Crooked Island 
group, and no one can read the journal with chart in hand (see Plate 
III.) without noting how closely the topography agrees with the text. 
In the run from Isabela to Cuba, Becher allows one and a half points 
westerly variation in order to bring the ships into the port of Nipe; 
but, as will be shown later, the reckoning of this run is too uncertain 
to admit of any positive conclusions based on it alone. Appended to 
Mr. Fox’s monograph is, moreover, a discussion of the variation of the 
compass in the Bahamas in 1492, by Mr. Schott, Assistant, U. S. 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, in which the conclusion is reached that 
the variation was not more than a quarter of a point west. 

Thus far we have followed Mr. Fox’s criticism only; but his own 
route is also open to objection, and must next be considered. It is 
apparently founded on the description of the second island. 

The log says (Oct. 15) that “ the side which is towards the island of 
San Salvador runs north and south and is five leagues in length; and 
the other which I followed ran east and west and contains over ten 
leagues.” Captain Fox says: “ Crooked has a north and south side 
13 miles, and another which runs west by north and east by south 29 
miles. I wish the reader to take heed that it is the second island and 
no other of which the journal records the length and trend of two 
separate sides; and that Crooked is the only one in the Bahamas 
which conforms to this description.” 

This coincidence is certainly a remarkable one, and if a theory 
founded on it did not conflict in any point with the journal it would be 
almost conclusive. The description of San Salvador is too meagre to 
enable any one to urge final objections against Mr. Fox’s choice 
of Samana, but the description does not agree so closely with it as 
with Becher’s choice of Watling. The objections to his route rest not 
on the first island but on those visited later. From the second island 
Columbus saw “ another larger one to the west,” but Long Island, 
Mr. Fox’s third island, is invisible from his second. He admits this; 
in fact, he particularly investigated the point, and explains the incon¬ 
sistency by two suppositions: one, that extensive physical changes 
may have been in progress in the Bahamas since 1492; the other, 
founded on the statement of the light-house keepers at Bird Rock, 
off the NW. point of Crooked Island, that, although Long Island is 
not visible itself, yet clouds sometimes settle over it in clear weather 
like a stretch of land. It is possible that changes have taken place, 
but it may be questioned whether any extensive settling of the land 


470 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

has occurred since 1492. Long Island would necessarily have been 
at least two hundred feet higher than it now is to have shown from 
Crooked Island. An objection is found, in the positiveness of the 
statements of the journal on two different occasions, to the second 
supposition, that Columbus mistook clouds for land. These entries 
were both apparently made before the third island was reached, when 
the only evidence of its existence was the fact that it was in sight. 
Columbus was too experienced a seaman to be so completely deceived 
by an appearance of land as to make positive entries in the log 
that it was in sight, if there was nothing but a bank of clouds. 

Difficulty exists in reconciling Mr. Fox’s track with the entry under 
date of October 15, when speaking of the third island, “it appears 
that there may be on this side of the coast more than twenty-eight 
leagues”; this entry is modified, but confirmed in an entry of the fol¬ 
lowing day, that “ I saw fully twenty leagues of it, but this was not the 
end.” The description of Fernandina agrees very closely with the to¬ 
pography of Long Island; but if Columbus approached the southern 
end from the eastward, how did he know of the length of the island, 
and how did he see twenty leagues before he commenced his trip along 
the coast ? Five or six leagues would probably be about all that 
would be visible on such a line of approach. 

There can be but little doubt that the southern end of Long Island 
was the point from which the ships of Columbus set sail on the 
morning of October 19. Becher, Fox, and Varnhagen, although 
differing widely in their tracks up to this point, all agree here. Mr. 
Fox is, however, unable to agree with the others on the fourth island, 
as they assign one that he has already chosen as his second. He is 
therefore compelled to adopt views that seem to be unnatural and 
utterly untenable. On getting under way on the 19th for Samoet, 
concerning which he had heard so much from the natives, Columbus 
deployed his ships on different courses, evidently with the intention of 
picking up land as soon as possible. This line of action is proof that 
he was ignorant of the exact situation of Samoet, and was fearful that 
he might miss it if he kept his vessels together. The courses steered 
varied between ESE. and SSE., and it is impossible to imagine 
that any such proceeding would have been adopted if he had already 
come from an island in almost the exact direction towards which he 
was now steering. Mr. Fox makes Columbus sail about W. by 
N. on the afternoon of the 16th, from the second island to the third, 
and then on the 19th has him groping his way blindly ESE., SE., 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 471 

and SSE., in search of land, which he knew was in that direction. 
The journal states further that he reached the land about midday “at 
its northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet and a ridge of 
rocks outside of it to the north, and another between it and the large 
island.” No description written to-day could more clearly describe 
Bird Rock off the NW. point of Crooked Island (Plate III.); but 
this point chosen by Becher and Varnhagen is denied Fox, as it 
is the position he assigns for the anchorage of the night of the 15th; • 
and although he cites an instance in which Columbus sailed past a 
portion of the coast of Hayti without recognizing it, he cannot claim 
that he was so thoroughly deprived of all seamanlike instincts as not 
to recognize the same anchorage he had left only three days before. 
That the large island was a new one is evident from the fact that 
Columbus gave it a new name, that of Isabela, and furthermore 
described it as the most beautiful he had seen. “ This land is higher 
than that of the other islands I have discovered ; although it cannot 
be called mountainous, yet gentle hills enhance with their contrast 
the beauty of the plain; and there appears to be much water in the 
middle of the island.” 

Crooked Island, with hills 200 feet in height, is higher than any of 
the other islands in the vicinity, and agrees in almost every particular 
with the bits of description scattered through the next five days of the 
log. The note that the “rocky islet” bore east from Fernandina is 
in exact accordance with the bearing of Bird Rock. There would 
seem to be no manner of doubt that a person free to apply the 
description to any island fulfilling it would select Crooked Island. 

Mr. Fox’s dilemma is, as has already been stated : Crooked is his 
second island. He has therefore to choose another, and he has taken 
Hobson’s choice, Fortune Island being the only one available. But 
Fortune, far from being the largest and most hilly of the islands 
visited, is smaller and more nearly level than Crooked Island, which 
is separated from it only by a narrow creek, now almost dry at low 
water. Would any seaman use the language of the log,—that he 
reached the land “about midday at its northern extremity, where 
there is a rocky islet and a ridge of rocks outside it to the north, and 
another between it and the large island,”—if he had run into a bay 
between two islands? The description manifestly places the large 
island to the southward of the islet; but if for the rocky islet of the log 
we accept one of the low islands lying in the bayou between Crooked 
and Fortune, the large and hilly island is to the northward of the 


472 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


islet. Is it reasonable to suppose that a discoverer would find himself 
in a position like this without making mention of the land on each 
side of him, especially if by anchoring off the passage between them 
he saw that they were separate islands ? Would he speak of a rocky 
islet as off the north end of a large island when it was to the south¬ 
ward of the larger of the two? Between the 19th and 24th Columbus 
made several attempts to circumnavigate the islands, but was unsuc¬ 
cessful. In all this time not a single expression used in the log gives 
any idea that he recognized the land to the northward (Crooked 
Island) which Mr. Fox has had him visit on the 16th. He repeatedly 
communicated with the shore, and as it was his custom to give 
presents, and in every way to seek the confidence of the natives of the 
islands he visited, he would have ascertained the fact of his previous 
visit (if such there had been) from them. He had with him a num¬ 
ber of natives from San Salvador, who recognized the large island 
and gave it the name of Saometo. In the journal of the 16th, 
Columbus said that he should work until he found this island, as he 
had learned from the inhabitants of Santa Maria that it contained 
gold. On Mr. Fox’s track, Santa Maria and Saometo are not only 
in sight of each other, but separated by a mere bayou less than a 
mile wide! Mr. Fox bases his whole track on the correspon¬ 
dence between the account given in the journal of the second 
island and the northern and eastern sides of the Crooked Island 
group, thereby denying himself the privilege of observing how 
equally exact is the correspondence between the description of 
the fourth island, which is given in greater detail, and that of 
the western side of the same group. He is in fact compelled to 
adopt Fortune, and says: “The journal is obscure in regard to 
the fourth island. The best way to find it is to plot the courses 
forward from the third island, and the courses and distances back¬ 
ward from the fifth. These lead to Fortune for the fourth.” In 
reply to this, if one will read the journal with the idea in mind 
that Crooked and Fortune together form the fourth island, he will 
find no obscurity. Columbus even ventures the statement that he 
thinks there are two islands, and that a small one lies between, 
but says he had not time to decide a question of so little importance. 
There is no course given from the third to the fourth, so that that 
cannot be plotted; but a bearing is given of the “rocky islet” as east, 
the exact bearing of Bird Rock from the south end of Long Island, a 
bearing which Mr. Fox says might easily be if points in error. So 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


it might be, but in following his own directions for finding the fourth 
island by plotting from the third, we are led to believe that its position 
is as exact as an experienced navigator could determine it. 

It is well in this connection to make another quotation from Mr. 
Fox. “ The strain of a seafaring life from so tender an age is not 
conducive to literary exactness. Still, for the very reason of this sea 
experience, the ‘ log ’ should be correct. This is composed of courses 
steered, distances sailed over, bearings of islands from one another, 
trend of shores, etc. The recording of these is the daily business of 
seamen, and here the entries were by Columbus himself, chiefly to 
enable him on his return to Spain to construct that nautical map 
which is promised in the prologue of the first voyage.’’ 

It is impossible to follow Mr. Fox’s suggestion, to plot the courses 
and distances backward from the fifth island, with sufficient exactness to 
determine between Crooked and Fortune Islands. The general state¬ 
ment is made that the course wasWSW. from the “rocky islet”; but as 
distances are all measured from an observed departure, we know 
nothing of the distance that had been sailed when the departure was 
taken. This departure is the bearing of the southwest cape of 
Fernandina (which can be accepted with almost absolute certainty as 
Long Island) as NW. seven leagues. The distance is probably 
overestimated, as but little land in the Bahamas is visible with suffi¬ 
cient distinctness to answer as a point of departure at that distance; 
but the bearing alone is of the greatest importance. 

After the departure had been taken, a gale arose during the 
night (October 24), and after taking in everything but the foresail, 
Columbus was finally compelled to take that in also. Dead reckoning 
in such a run cannot be relied upon with great certainty. Mr. Fox, 
in his anxiety to prove that Fortune is the fourth island, makes an 
error in working back from the fifth, in putting all the run between 
the departure and the time of anchorage off the Sand Islands as made 
on one course. The log gives WSW., five leagues (16 miles), 
two leagues drift (direction not stated), and west, 44 (35 nautical) miles. 
At that time a chain of islands running north and south, distant five 
leagues, was sighted, bearing not given. On the next morning, Colum¬ 
bus anchored to the southward of these islands, course and distance in 
the interval not stated. Mr. Fox calculates all the above as WSW., 
but the reckoning worked up places Columbus, at the time he sighted 
land, in latitude 22 0 29', longitude 75 0 31', almost NNE. of the 
position where Mr. Fox has him anchored on the 26th. The data 


474 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

given for this run are too incomplete for any accurate calculations, 
and cannot justly be used to identify Fortune as the fourth island. 

Apparently none of the tracks thus far proposed from San Salvador 
to Cuba fulfil the requirements of the journal of Columbus. Common 
fairness requires, however, that a criticism should not only point out 
wherein a treatment of a subject is defective, but that it should also 
substitute something presumably better. In studying the tracks 
detailed above, certain conclusions seemed to present themselves 
naturally, and although many of them have been suggested by 
others, some will be found to be new; the combination is different 
from any yet proposed. I have been led to the following interpre¬ 
tation of the log of Columbus : 

It is certain that Columbus reached the north coast of Cuba, 
although there may be some question as to the exact point; but as 
his courses and distances are given in this part of the voyage with 
considerable exactness, we can begin to follow him backwards 
with the advantage of having a known point to start from, and we 
can thus trace him back to his landfall. He left the Sand Islands at 
sunrise of the 27th, and by nightfall saw the land, having then run 
about seventeen leagues SSW. In making this run, he was cross¬ 
ing a strong current that sets to the WNW. along the north coast 
of Cuba; allowing an average strength of two miles an hour, which 
is in excess, if in error, the bearing of his morning anchorage would 
have been NE., and the distance 58 miles, at sunset. At this time, 
however, the coast of Cuba was in sight, distant not more than twenty 
miles. We are therefore justified in saying that the anchorage from 
which he sailed to Cuba was about 75 miles northeast of the latter. 
This anchorage is described as being on the south side of Las Islas 
de Arena, “ seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south,” 
and it is also mentioned that “ all was shallow for five or six leagues 
on the southern side of said islands.” Taking a chart of the region, 
if we lay off 75 miles of the scale with a pair of dividers, and sweep 
along the chart, keeping one point of the dividers on the Cuban coast 
and the other on a northeast bearing, the latter should pass near the 
morning anchorage. The only land it approaches is the Ragged 
Island chain, and the coincidence between these and the descriptions 
given above is so exact that there seems to be hardly an opportunity 
for mistake in designating them as Las Islas de Arena. The distance 
of an anchorage south of these islands from the nearest point of Cuba is 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 


about 70 miles, and as no other islands at all answer to the descrip¬ 
tion, we can almost positively fix the position of Columbus on the 
morning of the 27th as at anchor to the southward of the Ragged 
Islands. 

The reckoning of the passage from Isabela to Las Islas de Arena 
is not given in full, but the general course is stated to have been 
about WSW., and the approximate distance between the position of 
the departure from Cape Verde and the point from which Las Islas 
de Arena were sighted is, as calculated from the courses and dis¬ 
tances given in the log, fifty miles, and the course made good, 
WJS. The distance of the islands when first seen is given as five 
leagues, and we have to conclude therefore that the position at sunset 
on the 24th was about 65 miles, E£N., from the Ragged Islands. 
Laying off this distance and bearing from the two extreme islands of 
the chain, and connecting the points thus determined, we have a line 
of bearing (Plate I.) that should contain the position of Columbus at 
the time he took his departure. But this position was SE. from 
Cape Verde, the south point of Fernandina, and WSW. from the 
“ rocky islet ” at the northern extremity of Isabela. These bearings 
immediately point to Long Island as Fernandina, and to Bird Rock 
as the “ rocky islet.” The exact manner in which Crooked and For¬ 
tune islands taken together fulfil the descriptions of the journal from 
the 19th to the 24th, has already been pointed out, and we are led, 
therefore, to identify Crooked and Fortune as the Isabela of Colum¬ 
bus, and the Saometo of the natives. 

Isabela, or rather the “ rocky islet,” at its northern extremity bore 
about east from Fernandina, the only idea of the distance derivable 
being that the ships were about six hours crossing from one island to 
the other. Long Island, already indicated as Fernandina, from the 
departure taken from its southern cape, lies 25 miles west of Bird 
Rock (identified as the rocky islet), and corresponds very closely 
to the description of Fernandina as an island over twenty leagues 
long, extending NNW. and SSE. 

We now reach the debatable point of the discussion. There can be 
but little doubt that thus far we have identified the islands visited ; but 
the second island, Santa Maria, offers more difficulties. Captain Becher 
is compelled to alter the journal in order to adapt it to the topography, 
and Mr. Fox, by making the second island the keystone of his argu¬ 
ment, is obliged to bring Columbus back almost on his own track. 
It is to be noticed that both Isabela and Santa Maria lay eight or 


476 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


nine leagues east of Fernandina. It may also be inferred that they 
were distant from each other, or Columbus would have known of the 
position of Isabela, which he describ.es as the highest island he had 
up to that time visited, having seen it from Santa Maria. The uncer¬ 
tainty with which he writes of the position of Samoet or Isabela on 
the 17th, after he had been to Santa Maria, shows conclusively that 
it was not visible, and that the two islands must therefore be more 
than twenty miles apart. This inference seems to be almost indis¬ 
putable, and, if correct, a glance at the chart shows that there is only 
one island on which we can fix as the Santa Maria de la Concepcion 
of Columbus, namely, Rum Cay. How does it fulfil the other condi¬ 
tions ? The objection immediately presents itself that, instead of 
being eight or nine leagues from Fernandina, it is only fifteen miles, 
and this would be serious if in this particular point the journal did not 
appear to contradict itself. Columbus states emphatically on two 
occasions, that from Santa Maria he saw Fernandina, “ appearing very 
large in the west ” ; but his estimate of the distance must have been 
defective, as there is no land in this part of the Bahamas that would 
be visible twenty-five miles from the deck of a small vessel. The 
fact of visibility cannot be reconciled with the distance given. Neither 
Washington Irving, Capt. Becher, nor Mr. Fox selects an island as 
Santa Maria from which the next island can be seen ; and as Rum 
C^y meets this requirement, and as we have been led to select it by 
an independent course of reasoning, the objection of the wrong dis¬ 
tance between the islands may be counterbalanced by the fact that 
in this case only is the third island visible from the second. Another 
objection to Rum Cay is that it does not agree with the description of 
the second island, as having a shore east and west, ten leagues in 
extent, and another, next to San Salvador, five leagues north and 
south. The north shore of Rum Cay is ten miles east and west, and 
its east side, which lies towards San Salvador, is five miles north and 
south. Capt. Becher pays but little attention to the size of the vari¬ 
ous islands as described, and Mr. Fox is compelled in two places to 
suggest that leagues in the journal should read miles . Without 
claiming this to be the case, it is possible ; and the fact that the trend 
of the shores of Rum Cay is in conformity with that of Santa Maria 
is noticeable. 

Lastly, San Salvador is seven leagues, or about twenty-two miles, 
from Santa Maria, presumably northeast. On the valuable chart 
accompanying Mr. Fox’s monograph, the SW. point of Watling’s 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 477 

Island is nineteen miles from the nearest part of Rum Cay, and bears 
NE£N. We are thus led to fix on Watling’s Island as the Guana- 
hani of 1492. In choosing it, no evidence has been considered other 
than that of Columbus himself, and it has been identified by his direc¬ 
tions rather than by trying to lead him into conformity with a precon¬ 
ceived theory. It only remains to follow him through the details 
of his cruise, and to examine whether the course already traced enables 
us understandingly and naturally to interpret his logbook. 

Mr. Fox gives excellent authority, that of Prof. Harkness of the 
Naval Observatory, for the statement that at the time San Salvador 
was sighted the moon was three hours high and favorably situated 
for seeing land to the westward. The vessels hove to and anchored 
off Guanahani the next morning. It is difficult to determine where 
Columbus anchored, as the journal contains no positive statements. 
The verbatim copy does not begin until after Guanahani had been 
reached, and Las Casas, in copying it, neglected to state anything on 
a point so unimportant to him as the anchorage. On the 13th the 
journal says, that “by going around the island to the southward” 
land could be reached; on the 14th Columbus took all the boats of 
the fleet and went NNE. to “see the other side, which was on the 
other side of the east (point ?).” These two expressions would seem 
to indicate an anchorage on the northwest side of the island. The 
speed of the ships during the night, nine knots an hour, indicates 
that they had not only a fresh breeze but also a fair one, and in that 
case the east side of the island would have been the weather side. It 
is therefore most probable that the anchorage was on the west or 
lee side of the island. 

The choice of Watling’s Island as Guanahani is not new, it having 
been designated by Munoz as long ago as 1793 as Columbus’ land¬ 
fall, and it has for many years been widely accepted as such. There 
is nothing in the description of San Salvador that conflicts in any 
way with the topography of Watling’s Island, but, on the contrary, 
there is so strong a correspondence as to have led to its having been 
designated long before any attempt was made to identify the other 
islands. It agrees with the short bits of description given by Colum¬ 
bus, in having a large lagoon in the.middle, and a rocky reef sur¬ 
rounding the island. It is questionable if a coral reef existing in 1492 
would now be entire, and as these reefs are found more or less 
throughout the Bahamas, neither the presence nor absence of one 
would be a strong argument either way. There is to-day a reef 


478 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

harbor at the northern end which would answer the description in 
many respects, although it is too shallow for large vessels. 

Some time in the afternoon of the 14th the ships of Columbus left 
San Salvador, presumably steering southwest, as he said he should do, 
in search of gold and precious stones. From its very beginning, the 
career of Spanish discovery and conquest in the New World was 
guided by the thirst for wealth, and Columbus shows in his journal, 
day after day, how he was led from island to island by the vague and 
oftentimes misunderstood signs of the Indians, that farther on gold 
was plentiful; and although repeatedly disappointed, he was time 
and again led to put faith in these golden rumors. 

On leaving San Salvador, the distance to the next island, given as 
five and afterwards as seven leagues, would seem to be but a short 
passage, but as it was dark before the island was reached, the ships 
lay off and on during the night, and apparently drifted so far away 
that they did not arrive before noon of the 15th. Mention is made 
of detention due to the tide, but nothing is said of which way the ships 
were set. The sailing directions make but little mention of any tidal 
current on the outer edge of the Bahamas ; but the currents are very 
strong. The sailing directions issued by the U. S. Hydrographic 
Office, 1877, say that “almost everywhere through these islands the 
current sets to the westward at the rate of half a mile to a mile an 
hour.” In the vicinity of Rum Cay they are either to the NW. or 
to the SE. In the track drawn on the chart (Plate I.) it is assumed 
that the current causing the detention was setting to the SE., but it 
is impossible to decide from the context which way the ships were 
drifted, and it is not intended, in assigning this drift to the SE., to 
assert that one in the opposite direction is not possible. It is also 
doubtful whether Columbus followed the north or south shore of the 
island to its western cape. These details are of little importance and 
cannot be exactly determined. At sunset on the 15th the ships 
“ anchored near the west cape.” The best anchorage at Rum Cay is 
on the south side of the island, near the eastern extremity, but there 
is an open roadstead under the west end that affords excellent shelter 
in any easterly wind. This was probably the anchorage of Columbus. 

At dawn of the 16th Columbus went ashore in the boats, but, to 
use his own words, did not wish to stay, “ porque el viento cargaba a 
la traviesa Sueste.” This passage has been variously rendered, but 
usually in some way different from its ordinary signification. The 
word “traviesa” is the modern “travesia,” and is used in nautical 


L.cf C. 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, I492. 479 


parlance in speaking of the wind when it blows directly on a coast 
or directly into a port or harbor. The phrase, as used here, may 
possibly have reference to the fact that, if the wind increased, Colum¬ 
bus might find difficulty in reaching the ships with his boats, as he 
was anxious to be back and to get under weigh. Another explana¬ 
tion, which is afforded by the track proposed in this paper, is that he 
wished to get to the southward, and wished to start before the wind 
came more nearly ahead. It is to be noticed that two different 
times are assigned in the log for the departure from Santa Maria. In 
the journal of the 15th is a note, evidently written on the next day, 
saying, “ and so I left about ten o’clock ” ; under date of the 16th the 
time of departure is given as noon. 

It has always been assumed that on leaving Santa Maria the course 
to the next island was west. There is no course given anywhere in 
the journal, although the bearing of the two islands is twice men¬ 
tioned as east and west; but there are the best of reasons for think¬ 
ing that the course sailed was not west, but as nearly south as the 
wind would permit. The third island bore west from the second, but 
after reaching it Columbus says it extended NNE. and SSW., 
and that he “ saw more than twenty leagues of it, but this was not 
the end.” From the deck of his vessel, or even from the mast¬ 
heads, he could never have seen more than six or seven leagues of 
the shore, if steering west; and the fact that he twice records its 
length, once under the date of the 15th as twenty-eight leagues, and 
again on the 16th as more than twenty, admits of but one explan¬ 
ation, that he sailed along the coast of the island in sight of it. It is 
by no means certain that the phrase “ inclining to the south ” (on the 
15th, when he says, “ and so I left at about ten o’clock with a south¬ 
east wind, inclining to the south”) does not refer to the course steered, 
and not, as it first appears, to the direction of the wind. But there 
are still other inferences to be drawn in favor of the idea that he went 
to the southward. One is that on the 17th Columbus evinces a desire 
to sail to the southeast, as he understood from the Indians whom he 
had brought with him, that in that direction lay the island of Samoet, 
where gold was to be found. But these Indians were with him 
on the 16th at Santa Maria, and in addition to their information he 
had that of the inhabitants of the island as to the position of Samoet. 
He twice expresses his wish to reach Samoet, and it is therefore reason¬ 
able to suppose that on leaving Santa Maria he had that island 
and not Fernandina as his objective point, although he went to the 


480 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

latter in accordance with his general principle not to pass any island 
without visiting it. If he did stand to the southward on leaving 
Santa Maria, it is easy to account for what has already been referred 
to as an erroneous estimate of the distance between the second and 
third islands east and west, for Columbus did not pass over the inter¬ 
vening distance, but estimated it from his anchorage. Experienced 
seamen differ widely in their estimates of the distance of land when 
they have nothing but their judgment to rely upon. 

These reasons seem sufficient to justify the track laid down on the 
chart. The interpretation given the log is, therefore, that the vessels 
got under way between ten o’clock and noon from their anchorage 
at the west end of Rum Cay, and stood to the southward, or as 
nearly so as the wind would permit, “ inclining to the south.” Dur¬ 
ing the afternoon the wind was light, and as they could not reach 
land to pick out an anchorage by daylight, they stood off and on dur¬ 
ing the night, working to the southward. At daylight of the 17th 
Columbus came to anchor near a village. He says, “ this cape to 
which I have come, and all this coast runs NNW. and SSE.,”* 
indicating that the cape was not a prominent one. He also says that 
he saw twenty leagues of the island, but that “ this was not the end.” 
Reference is also made to information derived from natives “in this 
part of the south.” The position of the anchorage is, on this au¬ 
thority, located on the eastern shore of Long Island, near its southern 
extremity. The chart shows a hill near a bend in the coast-line, 
which might be called a cape, and this agrees well with the descrip¬ 
tion given. The distance from Rum Cay to this point is about forty 
miles, and the time the vessels were under way from noon to day¬ 
light the next morning seems ample for them to have made the trip, 
even if the wind was light during the night. 

At noon of the 17th the ships were again under way. The wind 
was from south to southwest. Here Columbus manifested a strong 
desire to go to the south and southeast in search of Samoet, but, on 
the advice of Pinzon, who understood from the natives that the island 
could be rounded best by steering to the northward, consented to 
skirt the coast to the NNW. When he was two leagues from the 
end or cape | of the island he discovered what he calls a marvellous 
harbor with two mouths, so attractive that he came to anchor an^ 

* Y este cabo adonde yo vine y toda esta costa se corre Norueste y Sursueste. 

t “ Y cuando fue acerca del cabo de la isla, a dos leguas, halle un muy mara- 
villoso puerto.” 


tEMU£&a 



/ SMCFR/EDZNWALD PHOTO UTHC'hBALTO: 























































































































THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 481 

went in with the boats to examine it, but found it too shallow for the 
ships. This harbor, far from being of assistance in tracing his route, 
has offered many difficulties. Becher dismisses it with scarcely a 
notice; Washington Irving identifies it as Exuma Harbor, but in 
doing so cannot reconcile the succeeding portions of the log with the 
topography. Mr. Fox fixes on Clarence Harbor, on the east side of 
Long Island, which agrees admirably with the description. The only 
difficulty is in reconciling its position with the distance given, two 
leagues from the cape or end of the island; and he explains it by sup¬ 
posing it to be two miles from the cape formed by the northernmost 
of the row of islets on the east of the harbor. Another and appar¬ 
ently a better explanation is that Columbus, instead of using “ cabo ” 
in its general acceptation of “ end,” referred to the “ cape ” where he 
had anchored in the morning, which he also calls “ cabo,” although 
the context shows that it was not at the end, but rather in the middle 
of the coast-line. If this were so, his meaning would be, “After I had 
gone two leagues, or was two leagues from the cape where I an¬ 
chored, I found a marvellous harbor.” After sounding the harbor, he 
filled the water casks, losing two hours, and then returned to the ships 
and set sail. The afternoon must then have been far gone, and on 
reaching that part of the coast which runs east and west and which is 
only two miles farther, he was becalmed. The wind coming out from 
the WNW., he turned and headed to the southward and eastward 
as he had originally wished to do. It is evident, when we consider 
the time spent at the harbor, and the fact that he experienced a calm 
shortly after leaving it, that he had not made great progress during 
the whole afternoon; and if we accept the explanation given above, 
that he sailed two leagues and found the harbor, the whole run would 
not have been more than eight or nine miles. After turning, Colum¬ 
bus ran to the southward and eastward in thick, threatening weather, 
but with so little wind that he could not get near the shore for an 
anchorage. It rained heavily during the latter part of the night, and 
the next day, probably in the morning, he ran round the southern end 
of the island and anchored. This is the night in which Columbus, 
according to Capt. Becher, might have been taken for the Flying 
Dutchman, running along an unknown coast, ten knots an hour, with 
no wind. 

On the 19th the desire of Columbus to go to the southward and 
eastward was gratified, the three ships getting under way at dawn 
and starting on different courses so as to avoid all chance of passing 


482 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 

Samoet without seeing it. As soon as land was sighted, all headed 
for it. There could be no better evidence than this that Columbus 
was in an unknown sea. He had heard of the existence of land in 
that direction and he took every precaution to sight it; whereas Mr. 
Fox and Varnhagen make him come from this same land on his way 
to Fernandina. The ships made the land at a rocky islet at the 
northern extremity, described so accurately as to leave no doubt that 
the Bird Rock of to-day is the land indicated. The agreement of 
Crooked Island with Isabela has already been pointed out, and they 
differ in only one respect; the distance of Cape Beautiful* from the 
rocky islet is stated as twelve leagues; but, assuming Cape Beautiful 
to be the present Fortune Hill, the distance is in reality only twenty 
miles. Another cape, the Cape of the Lagoon, described as the 
southwest point of the island, is mentioned; this is now only about 
two miles from Fortune Hill. It is hardly probable, however, that 
the Fortune Island of to-day is of exactly the same size as in 1492, as 
a long, narrow spit, like the one of the present maps, is subject to 
great erosion at its end: consequently, the old island may have been 
much longer. A most exact coincidence is found in the remark of 
Columbus, that he believed “ this Cape Beautiful is a separate island 
from Saometo, and even that there is another small one between,” a 
belief that the chart shows to be correct. 

At sunrise on the 20th the ships were under way. The first attempt 
seems to have been to pass directly east from the anchorage at the 
southern end of Fortune Island, but this was prevented by shoal water. 
Coasting along the shoal to the southwest, and rounding the island 
in that direction, was thought of, but was abandoned as taking too 

*An inconsistency exists in the log of the 19th. The rocky islet is stated 
to be east of Fernandina, and Cape Beautiful is twelve leagues (38 miles) west 
of the islet. This would place Cape Beautiful very near Fernandina, if not to 
the westward of it. Assuming the bearing and distance to be correct, and that 
Cape Beautiful, from being so far to the westward, was the first land (distant 
not less than ten miles) sighted by Columbus when coming from Fernandina, 
the vessels must have made forty-eight miles in the three hours which elapsed 
between sighting land and reaching the rocky islet. This absurdity arises 
from the bearing of the cape as west of the islet, but the bearing seems to 
conflict with an entry in the log of the 20th. Columbus says: “I determined 
to return by the course I had come from the NNE.,” a statement which indi¬ 
cates that Cape Beautiful was SSW. of the rocky islet. This position not only 
avoids the discrepancy pointed out, but also agrees closely with the topography 
of Crooked and Fortune islands. 



ISAAC FR! EDEN WALD PHOTO L/THO. BALTO: 

















. • 





* - 








•- 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 483 


much time, and the vessels therefore returned to the rocky islet, 
where they lay at anchor from the 21st to the 24th. Vain attempts 
were made to communicate with the king of the island in hopes of 
obtaining gold; but after repeated disappointments Columbus aban¬ 
doned the scheme and looked forward to arriving at Cuba, which 
he believed to be Cipango from the accounts he received of its 
riches and the number of merchants there. At midnight of the 
23d-24th the ships left the anchorage off the Rocky Islet, follow¬ 
ing the WSW. course which the natives had given. The dead 
reckoning, from the departure on the 24th to 3 P. M. on the 25th, 
when Las Islas de Arena were sighted (disregarding the drift of six 
miles, as the log gives no idea of its direction), places the ships at the 
latter time eighteen miles east of the middle of the Ragged Island 
chain. On sighting land, the explorers probably ran to the south¬ 
west, as the journal says that on the 26th they were anchored on the 
southern side of the islands. 

On the 27th Columbus set sail for Cuba. As already stated, there 
can be hardly a doubt that he was anchored on Columbus Bank, 
south of what are now known as the Ragged Islands. Although this 
point is fixed with more certainty than any other in his cruise among 
the Bahamas, it is difficult to identify his landfall on the Cuban coast, 
as the ships lay off and on all night and were in the midst of a strong 
westerly current. Moreover, the description of the harbor they 
entered the next morning is very vague. Four ports have been 
selected as the harbor he made; Port Nipe, which has been chosen 
by Captain Becher and by Navarette, bears about S. by W. from the 
eastern end of Columbus Bank, on which the ships were at anchor 
on the 26th. The course steered therefrom was SSW., crossing 
moreover a westerly current. In order to bring them to Port Nipe, 
Captain Becher has to assume one and three-quarter points westerly 
variation. But as already stated, Mr. Chas. A. Schott of the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey has, after a careful investigation of all sources 
of information, decided that the variation of one-quarter of a point 
westerly was in all probability that found by Columbus. It is notice¬ 
able that the adoption of this variation agrees admirably with all 
bearings in the log capable of being identified. Such are the bearing 
of the rocky islet from Fernandina, and the general agreement of the 
dead reckoning from Isabela to Las Islas de Arena. There thus seem 
to be very strong reasons against adopting Captain Becher’s assumed 
variation; and, unless this assumed variation be true, the ships could 


484 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 


never have reached Port Nipe. Varnhagen selected Port Gibura, and 
Fox, Port Padre, and either of these selections may be correct, as far 
as the dead reckoning is concerned. The only description of the 
port given in the log is that it had twelve fathoms at the entrance and 
had a wide channel. Mr. Fox condemns Port Gibura because it has 
only three fathoms, but his own selection of Port Padre conflicts with 
the journal in that it gives a long, narrow entrance. Neither of these 
spots can be definitely determined as Columbus’ landfall. On the 
accompanying chart the preference is given to Port Gibura, as it 
seems more probable that in the interval of four hundred years which 
have lapsed since Columbus’ visit, a channel should shoal, than that 
what he describes as a broad entrance should contract by the upheaval 
or movement of its shores into a narrow passage like the entrance of 
Port Padre, as shown on the charts of to-day. The fourth harbor 
chosen is that of Washington Irving’s track, Boca de Caravela. The 
objections already stated to his track affect this selection as well. 

In thus assigning a track for Columbus through the Bahamas in 
1492, it is not pretended that it will fully satisfy all statements in the 
journal, or exactly agree with all details. If any track should ever be 
definitely accepted, it will be not because it agrees in every particular 
with the journal and other contemporaneous authorities, but because 
it agrees with them as a whole. The objections to the track proposed 
in this paper are principally to its selection of Rum Cay as Santa 
Maria ; but it is claimed that of the many statements made in the log, 
Rum Cay satisfies more than it disagrees with, and its selection as the 
second island enables the others to be fixed with exactness, there be¬ 
ing hardly a question that can be raised against them. Whether we 
work forwards from Guanahani or backwards from Cuba, Rum Cay, 
disagreeing as it does only in size with the statements of the log, pre¬ 
sents itself as Santa Maria, and explains many things before inexplic¬ 
able, especially the record made by Columbus that he saw twenty 
leagues of Fernandina (Long Island) before he anchored off its shore. 

There are a few things recorded in the journal that seem to be inex¬ 
plicable by the assumption of any track that can be proposed. The 
first of these is the notice of the light seen at sea, four hours before 
Guanahani was sighted. This light cannot be located on any known 
land. In the track proposed by Washington Irving, a solution is 
given, but the subsequent great disagreements of his track with the 
journal prevent our accepting it, and we cannot but believe that the 
light was due to the imagination of Columbus, wrought up to a high 


THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1492. 485 


pitch by the numerous signs of land encountered that day. He admits 
himself that at first the light was so indistinct that he did not dare 
to affirm it to be on land, and that of the two persons he called to see 
it, only one succeeded in making it out. Any one who has had much 
experience in trying to see faint lights on a sea horizon with a moder¬ 
ate sea running, knows how easy it is to be deceived, especially when 
from any cause the senses are on the alert for alight one wishes to see. 
The only other supposition is that the light was in a canoe passing 
from one island to another; but as it was seen forty miles from San 
Salvador, and as there is no reason to suppose from an inspection of 
the journal or the old charts that there was any land outside of 
Guanahani, this seems improbable. 

Another difficulty is found in the positive statement of Columbus 
that when he left San Salvador, so many islands came in sight that 
he did not know which to steer for, but finally chose the largest, al¬ 
though that was not the nearest. It is hard to imagine that he was 
deceived or that he construed clouds or indications of land into 
islands; but his language indicates the existence of an archipelago 
such as we cannot find anywhere on our maps of to-day, near the 
border of the Bahamas, except in the vicinity of the Caycos, and this 
cluster of islands is so situated that no track can be followed from them 
that agrees with any of the subsequent record. It seems better to admit 
That this passage cannot be understood, rather than to attempt any 
forced reconcilement. Columbus may have been deceived, or some 
error may have crept into the log later. As it stands, it is irrecon¬ 
cilable with modern charts. 

Another point in the log that disagrees with every track thus far 
proposed, and apparently with every one that can be proposed, is 
an entry under date of November 20. Columbus there states his 
position as twenty-five leagues NEfN. from Puerto del Principe 
(supposed to be the present port of Tanamo), and says that he was 
then twelve leagues from Isabela, which was eight leagues from San 
Salvador . The position given on the accompanying chart for 
November 20, on Mr. Fox’s track, agrees well with the distance of 
Isabela cited, but it seems impossible to reconcile the courses and dis¬ 
tances of the log between the 12th and 20th of October with the 
declaration that Isabela and San Salvador are only eight leagues apart. 
This portion of the log is not the verbatim copy, but an abridgment 
by Las Casas, and this statement may be an error due to him, or it 
may possibly be due to carelessness in the original. While adopting 


486 THE CRUISE OF COLUMBUS IN THE BAHAMAS, 1 492. 


the log of Columbus as our authority, we evidently cannot reconcile 
all his statements; but the above seem to be utterly at variance with 
the others. They have never been explained satisfactorily and no 
attempt is here made at explanation; but attention is called to them 
that it may not appear that they have been neglected in deciding on 
the track proposed in this paper. As already stated, a track must be 
judged as a whole, and not by one or two of its strongest points. 
Reference has been made in several places to the possibility of a 
change of level in the Bahamas since 1492. There seems to be no 
evidence that such changes have occurred, and considerable evidence 
exists that none have taken place. -The rocky islet north of Isabela 
(Bird Rock) would be connected with Crooked Island by a slight 
elevation, or completely submerged by a slight subsidence. Clarence 
Harbor is to-day shoal and intricate, as described by Columbus. He 
found shoal water for five or six leagues to the southward of the 
Ragged Islands, just as there is to-day. The adjacent lands, Florida, 
Cuba, and Hayti, have been inhabited by Spaniards and their de¬ 
scendants since the early part of the sixteenth century, but none of 
these lands show any marked change of level. It therefore appears 
unjustifiable to claim that the Bahamas of 1492 were more elevated 
than at present. Changes in the position of shores, depths of harbors, 
or character of the coasts probably have taken place under the 
action of surf and oceanic or tidal currents ; but these changes would 
be but limited and might not be apparent. 












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